SEPTEMBER 2026 PROJECT CARGO 19 HEAVY LIFTING DONE RIGHT Our cargo-handling capabilities save time and money. Let the port that works be your gateway to North America and beyond. 1000 Foust Road, Brownsville, TX 78521 (956) 831-4592 • (800) 378-5395 portofbrownsville.com Ian Hamilton, president and CEO of HOPA Ports. “Through our Logistec and our QSL stevedoring part- ners, the Port of Hamilton has the specialized han- dling expertise that these complex cargoes require.” The Port of Cleveland has welcomed various project cargo on several vessels this year for a long- planned data center near Columbus, Ohio, with the expectation of future such components arriving. “We expect more of that business to continue into 2027 and possibly beyond,” says David S. Gutheil, the chief operating officer at the Port of Cleveland. Other ports on the Great Lakes have also seen this type of traffic and remain hopeful for more in future but may have those expectations tempered by the increasing public resistance against data centers over concerns about energy use, water consumption, as well as constant noise. Change in Project Investment Strategy? New York Governor Kathy Hochul has placed a statewide pause on future data center development, while Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has paused state tax exemptions and incentives for new such propos- als. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Mich- igan Governor Gretchen Whitmer have each signed orders that demand local environmental and energy ratepayer protections before a project can proceed. Fully aware of the increasing resistance, the Canadian government announced five key principles on September 4th to guide future AI data center devel- opments. The framework calls for local transparency, minimized water and environmental impacts, a full assumption of energy costs, as well as enduring local benefits. The totally unbinding principles don’t seem to be swaying critics, including the Council of Canadians, the country’s largest non-partisan citizens advocacy organization, because they don’t carry any consequences for non-compliance. Currently, several provinces are reviewing projects as they wrestle with anticipated AI requirements, competing demands for limited energy, as well as public resistance. As for wind energy development, an overall slowdown in new installations has had Eastern ports in Canada and the US turning more attention to han- dling large components for LNG and other energy pipelines, new energy grids, along with traditional project cargo for rail and road upgrades. US and Canadian ports with abundant laydown space, such as the Port of Thunder Bay, are increas- ingly in demand by shippers who want some leeway in terms of how fast their cargo has to be moved from a port area to its ultimate destinations. A surge in new energy-related project cargo has been straining North America’s rail capacity, especially with aging rolling stock contributing to schedule delays. Some of this business is shifting to trucking companies as well as barge operators, but getting those shipments delivered may require more trips, cost and/or time than had been the case by rail. (PROSPECTS – continued on page 19) (PROSPECTS – continued from page 6) days into the Middle East conflict after a drone struck the apron. The fleet has since been rede- ployed to continue connecting the region, but the episode underscored the operational volatility now baked into global logistics. For US—focused operators, the eastward shift carries additional complexity. Trade policy uncer- tainty is already prompting some customers to con- sider reshoring or nearshoring production – Mexico, India and Southeast Asia are all emerging as alterna- tive manufacturing locations – which is itself gener- ating new project cargo flows as factories are built and equipped. The Nuclear Renaissance Keir’s EIC presentation also highlighted the renais- sance of nuclear power – and in particular the growing pipeline of small modular reactors. Large-scale nuclear has already returned to favor across much of the world. Sweden reversed its phase- out policy, while Japan has restarted 15 reactors since Fukushima. The pipeline of approved large-scale nuclear projects has grown substantially, supported by a new framing of energy security that goes beyond simple cost comparisons. Small modular reactors – installations of 500 megawatts or smaller – are now generating serious investment interest. The U.K., Poland, South Africa and multiple countries across South America and the United States have approved or are advancing SMR programs. But Keir cautioned against assum- ing SMRs can be deployed quickly or at scale to power data centers: “Small modular reactors are still nuclear power stations, and they still require regula- tory approval.” The construction and commissioning of reactor modules, turbine components and associated civil infrastructure is precisely the kind of technically demanding, high-value cargo that specialist oper- ators are positioned to handle. Unlike large-scale nuclear – where a handful of major projects gen- erate enormous but infrequent demand – the SMR pipeline, if it develops as EIC data suggests, would generate a more distributed and sustained stream of project freight demand across multiple geographies. The Sustainability Premium The question of customer willingness to pay for sustainable logistics is one the industry has debated at length, usually in optimistic terms. The reality, as Meyer described it at the conference, is more mixed. “On willingness to pay, we have a substantial recovery of the investments that we do in this space, but it’s not a hundred percent yet,” he said. “For the foreseeable future, we do not want to make money on decarbonization, so we always spend more than we collect from our customers.” Take-up is strongest in aviation, where DHL now carries a 10% sustainable aviation fuel share in its own fleet – roughly three times the ratio of the next airline globally. In ocean freight, economic pressure – particularly in the automotive sector – is causing some customers to pull back from sustain- ability commitments made in more comfortable times. Oscar de Bok, CEO of DHL Global Forward- ing, offered a more forward-looking read: many large customers have signed net-zero commitments with 2030 deadlines that felt distant when they were made and are now approaching fast. “That also helps with the willingness to buy,” he said. The sector-specific variation matters for project cargo operators considering their own decarbonization positioning. Where customers face margin pressure – bulk commodity flows, standardized solar panel ship- ments – the green premium is hardest to sustain. Where cargo is complex, high-value and involves a relation- ship-oriented customer, the commercial case for sus- tainable logistics is considerably stronger. Whether DHL reaches its €3 billion target by 2030 will depend on variables no logistics company fully controls. But the scale of its investment signals something the project cargo sector would do well to take seriously: the energy transition is generating logistics complexity that generalist and specialist operators alike will need to rethink how they serve. Luke King attended the DHL New Energy Conference in Amsterdam in June 2026. He is the founder of the Project Cargo Professionals podcast and a contributor to AJOT. (BIG – continued from page 17)
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